Are we on the right track?

[Anonymous]

We plan to hire our first nanny this fall when our oldest enters kindergarten. We are in Northern Virginia.

We are looking for someone to care for our children for about 30 hours a week, M-Thu. from 7:30AM until 3:15PM. There are 3 children -- 5 y/o, 3.5 y/o and 6 month old. The oldest will be in school from 8 until 3 -- most days DH will walk him to school after nanny arrives. I will be home around 2:45 and will pick up the oldest. So nanny will have two children, the 3.5 year old and the baby. She may occasionally have the 5 y/o on teacher workshop days. DH and I alternate Fridays off so she won't have to be there.

We live in a very accessible area. Tons of parks.

We are looking to spend about $18/hr., plus a $400 monthly healthcare allowance. Is this fair? Is the position described above one that would sound appealing to an experienced nanny? We wouldn't expect much housekeeping during the day, altho loading the dishwasher would be nice! Are we on the right path? Are we asking too much? Too little? We aren't rich but financially a nanny seems to make more sense than a daycare with 3 on board now.

Any advice appreciated! Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I am a nanny with five years experience, multiple experience, and experience with five children at once. I would consider this a very good position. Have you thought about paid time off? That is a pretty common perk. The health care stipend is not very common and would probably be much appreciated. I think you should be prepared to ask your nanny to do all child related cleaning tasks such as the children laundry.

[Anonymous]

Another experienced nanny here (12 1/2 years)...I think it sounds like a great position. The health care allowance is a phenomenal perk that should be very attractive to experienced nannies.

PP is correct about thinking about paid time off. I also agree with child-related tasks being reasonable if that's something you're interested in. One additional suggestion I have is making sure that when you are interviewing candidates you are up front about the job including occasional care of your older child. This will ensure that candidates are aware that occasional care of your 5y/o is expected and included in the wage so that candidates don't think the quoted wage is for your younger two and expect extra on those occasional days. Most will assume that the quoted wage is for all three kids, but better safe than sorry.

[Anonymous]

Op here - thank you both so much! We of course would offer paid time off, I had forgotten to mention it. I'm happy to hear that light child related cleaning is expected - that certainly would be welcome!

One question I have is about how to address care for the 5 year old during winter and summer breaks - his school is year round but there are I believe two periods of 3 weeks or so where he may be out of class. We could sign him up for an extended program at the school, but I'm wondering what would be a fair compensation if we decided to leave him at home with his brothers at that time.

Thank you again for the replies!

[Anonymous]

MB here.

The only thing I would add is to consider what you want to do if a candidate asks to be paid out the health care stipend. In our experience, most candidates wanted the cash instead of the stipend. I really struggled with this, but in the end it really felt too paternalistic to insist we would only pay it as health care. I think either decision is fine, but I can almost guarentee it will come up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MB here.

The only thing I would add is to consider what you want to do if a candidate asks to be paid out the health care stipend. In our experience, most candidates wanted the cash instead of the stipend. I really struggled with this, but in the end it really felt too paternalistic to insist we would only pay it as health care. I think either decision is fine, but I can almost guarentee it will come up.

PP, what do you mean "cash instead of the stipend"? Stipends are cash (or check) payments by definition...

OP, this would be an excellent and very attractive job for experienced and qualified candidates, you don't need to "settle" at all so definitely be very thorough in your hiring process. There is no problem with your nanny having care of all 3 children at any time and you don't need to offer any additional pay or compensation for that.

[Anonymous]

Another MB here. I'd say this sounds like a great job. Re the health insurance - I'd list that as "up to $400/mth" as costs can vary and can be significantly cheaper depending on the individual.

Also, we give our nanny money towards insurance coverage but were given very clear legal advice that this kind of benefit needs to be supported by documentation that the nanny has obtained (and is maintaining) health insurance, and that the money we are giving here is expressly for that purpose and documented as such. Otherwise it is considered taxable income (taxable to all parties).

So the cash compensation issue, while it may come up, falls under the decisions about legal pay/on the books/taxation etc...

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another MB here. I'd say this sounds like a great job. Re the health insurance - I'd list that as "up to $400/mth" as costs can vary and can be significantly cheaper depending on the individual.

Also, we give our nanny money towards insurance coverage but were given very clear legal advice that this kind of benefit needs to be supported by documentation that the nanny has obtained (and is maintaining) health insurance, and that the money we are giving here is expressly for that purpose and documented as such. Otherwise it is considered taxable income (taxable to all parties).

So the cash compensation issue, while it may come up, falls under the decisions about legal pay/on the books/taxation etc...

Good luck!

Thank you so much! This is good advice.

We are considering advertising the position for $16 - 18 / hr -- is that the best way to advertise, with a range? Or do you just leave it open?

I apologize for the basic questions but we very much want to be fair and thorough!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MB here.

The only thing I would add is to consider what you want to do if a candidate asks to be paid out the health care stipend. In our experience, most candidates wanted the cash instead of the stipend. I really struggled with this, but in the end it really felt too paternalistic to insist we would only pay it as health care. I think either decision is fine, but I can almost guarentee it will come up.

PP, what do you mean "cash instead of the stipend"? Stipends are cash (or check) payments by definition...

OP, this would be an excellent and very attractive job for experienced and qualified candidates, you don't need to "settle" at all so definitely be very thorough in your hiring process. There is no problem with your nanny having care of all 3 children at any time and you don't need to offer any additional pay or compensation for that.

PP here. I guess I put that badly. I meant, many of our candidates asked if they could have the health care allowance as part of their salary rather than using it for health insurance. We agreed to give them somewhat less, as the amount was now subject to FICA.

It might be considered short sited by many, and it's certainly not anything unique to nannies, but I can almost guarentee some applicants will ask, so I'd just think about how you feel about the answer.